Massey: Dawg fan keeps the faith

Saturday

WEST CREEK HILLS, Pa. - We all watched and cheered as the University of Georgia fought its way back into the football game last Saturday against Arkansas, only to see us unravel at the end.

Everyone has the right to grumble and get the crying towel out. However, you have to suit up for all of the games. It is time for Georgia fans to hunker down.

If you are indeed a true Georgia fan, you will be either traveling to Mississippi State today and Colorado next Saturday, or at least watching and cheering on TV. But for most fans, the real job comes at Sanford Stadium on Oct. 9, when the Dawgs are back home against Tennessee. It is time that we sell 7,000 standing-room-only tickets to push attendance over 100,000 and set a new state record.

I will be in Athens for the Vanderbilt game. I hope that I find that it is the largest homecoming game crowd ever. As a student trainer in 1966, I look forward to seeing old teammates, coaches and friends.

Why do I say this?

I live in the middle of Penn State country. A couple of seasons ago, Penn State went through about three years of losing four or five games a year. Yes, there was groaning and crying about Joe Paterno. However, they were still getting 104,000 to 106,000 people in the stadium each game to try and pull the Lions through.

The students kept sleeping outside of the stadium all week to be the first ones on the front rows. They kept roaring, "We are Penn State!" The team has now come back to much of its former glory.

For 39 years, I have defended the Georgia team when we won and when we lost. There were times when it got awfully lonely.

I defended Georgia after Penn State beat us in the Sugar Bowl in 1982, when they supposedly shut Herschel down. I said Buck Belue threw the ball more accurately than ever and the receivers were so shocked that they dropped the receptions. If one or two had been caught, we would have won.

Everyone talks up Southeastern Conference football, even in Penn State country. True fans talk about the love and fire for football in the South. It is now time to stand up and be counted. If you are a true Georgia fan, you will be in Athens on Oct. 9 inside the stadium or outside after trying to get a ticket to stand. Yes, the Dawgs can hear you from outside the stadium, just like the old railroad crowd of my day.

I will be watching for you.

Jim Massey is a retired from the Pennsylvania Department of Education and lives in a suburb of Harrisburg, Pa. He's former president of the area's UGA alumni club, which has about 250 members, and writes that "the problem is getting them all to realize they are not alone."

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